Speculation that NBC would yank its affiliation with WHDH has been going on for months, with owner Ed Ansin confirming that NBC told him they would be moving the affiliation away from WHDH.
NBC has wanted their own owned and operated broadcast station in Boston for a long time - and sources tell New England One that the network is set to announce "NBC Boston" today. WHDH will still be the NBC affiliate in Boston until their contract ends in December 2016, unless both parties agree to exit the contract or NBC finds a way out of it.
Here is what we know:
- WHDH news director Linda Miele notified some staffers at the station that this was happening last night.
- Ed Ansin has or is planning to file a lawsuit against NBC - we're told the reasoning for the lawsuit is the lack of a strong over-the-air signal from WNEU for the majority of the Boston market. With a large number of viewers not being able to get an OTA signal, this could cause some regulartory headaches for NBC.
- There is a scheduled all hands meeting at WHDH today at 3pm, and we're told that Ansin is in town and will attend. Ansin has also invited the Boston Globe to the staff meeting, and will be giving them another interview today.
- There is also a staff meeting at NECN for 1pm.
Once things become official, you can expect a flurry of departures for on-air talent and behind the scenes people at WHDH - we're told there has already been talk amongst some talent who are exploring ways out of their contracts.
UPDATE:
In an interview with the 7 News reporter Dan Hausle, Ansin again confirms what we have already told you - NBC is pulling the plug and moving on from WHDH. However, Ansin says that he hasput together a legal team to challenge the network's decision to move to WNEU. "We intend to contest NBC's plans" he said.
Ansin says that moving the NBC affiliation to WNEU is not in the public interest because of its lack of signal reach to the Greater Boston area. He also says that this move violates the deal that Comcast made with the Federal Communications Commission five years ago in order to acquire NBC.
"They have the right to buy a station, change affiliation. That's their privilege. They don't have a right to violate the agreement between Comcast and NBC and the affiliates, and the government," Ansin said. "This is clearly not in the public interest. They will have half the coverage area of Channel 7. They will reach less than half of the population."
Ansin also met with Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey on Thursday to talk about the possible legal issues and conflicts with this move.
The office of Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey, who sits on the telecommunications sub-committee, released a statement that said "As a long-time supporter of universal service and free, over-the-air local broadcasting, Senator Markey intends to closely scrutinize the impacts any deal could have on viewers in Massachusetts."
Later, he told WHDH that "We don't want to see a day when there's a kid in Brockton, a poor kid, that wants to watch the Patriots on a Sunday night, and they don't have access to NBC for free on their local television station and they don't subscribe to cable," Markey said. "We have to make sure that that kid and every adult in our region has access to free over-the-air television, universal."
Whether this is a hail Mary, or Ansin actually thinks he can stop NBC is up for debate. Ansin stands to lose hundreds of millions of dollars in the value of WHDH without NBC. And if CBS moves the CW Network to WSBK in August when WLVI's affiliation agreement expires with that network, he will be stuck with two independent stations worth a fraction of what they are now.
If Ansin manages a legal fight like he runs a newsroom, he might have an uphill battle with this one.
FINAL UPDATE:
New England One obtained the following internal memo from NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations president Valerie Staab:
Dear Colleagues:
I wanted to let you know about an exciting development in our division: NBCUniversal will be launching an NBC-owned station in Boston on January 1, 2017. This will be the 12th NBC station in our group, following last year’s launch of NBC Puerto Rico, which was station #11. As you know, the NBCUniversal Owned Stations division also includes 17 Telemundo stations and a regional cable news network, necn, which serves all of New England.
Since necn joined our division over two years ago, the network has been transformed thanks to a very significant investment by Comcast NBCUniversal. We’ve built a brand new, state-of-the-art studio and a brighter, more modern newsroom; upgraded our tools and technology; refocused the network’s mission on breaking news and weather coverage; hired a seasoned news management team; boosted live news coverage; introduced a news app; and launched an investigative and consumer unit. Telemundo Boston now has access to necn’s new, state-of-the-art facility and the station introduced its first-ever live local newscast this past summer, with two 30-minute weeknight Spanish-language newscasts at 6 and 11 PM and a talented team of journalists offering Spanish-speaking viewers in the Boston area a choice in local television news for the very first time. The teams at necn and Telemundo Boston are doing a great job.
With these investments in necn and Telemundo Boston, we have built a very strong news organization in the Boston market – both from a personnel and facilities perspective – which puts us in a great position to launch an NBC-owned station locally. Over the next year, we will be ramping up to prepare for the launch of our new station, including adding significantly to our local team. Today, I am proud to announce that Mike St. Peter, General Manager of necn and Telemundo Boston, has agreed to lead our new NBC station, too, as President, NBC Boston, necn and Telemundo Boston.
With the work we’ve done over the last two years plus the future investments we have planned, we will soon have the best television newsroom in the region – with two major broadcast network outlets – NBC Boston and Telemundo Boston – that can reach viewers in both English and Spanish and a 24x7 news network – necn – that reaches viewers throughout New England.
To be clear, the new NBC-owned station will be a broadcast channel available to over-the-air viewers like our other NBC and Telemundo stations, not a cable-only channel as has been publicly speculated. Additionally, we are committed to expanding our over-the-air coverage of the market and are currently looking at a variety of options to accomplish that.
We are excited by the possibilities. We’ve already acquired Harry Connick, Jr.’s new daytime entertainment show, Harry, to anchor NBC Boston’s daytime lineup, as well as the popular Access Hollywood Live, which will air weekday afternoons, and Access Hollywood to air in the evenings before NBC’s primetime programming. We so look forward to delivering Boston area viewers the best local news, weather and information along with the NBC news, sports, primetime and late night programming they already know and enjoy.
As always, feel free to reach out with questions and comments. Thank you for your dedication and for the hard work you do each and every day.
Best Regards,
Valari Staab
President, NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations
Related: Beantown Breakup - Ansin Confirms NBC is Pulling Affiliation
Related: Chief Meteorologist Pete Bouchard Resigns from WHDH
